-Well, well, well! Brackett's Bluff is an extremely unique and fun place to play. You don't have any idea what it's like until you get there. I did the tournament up here and really saw the most interesting basket positions. There is a basket in a man made creek that's on brick. I guess it's hole 20's long position. Some extreme elevation (not kidding). Hole 21 is a severe uphill dogleg right par 4. It's literally one of the coolest drives I have ever seen.
-In the world. We don't have many courses like this one. There are usually not 20' rock baskets or a hanging basket with the post 15' over the ground in the middle of a ravine. In a park, you got maybe a couple really interesting basket locations and some good elevation. This will leave you wanting more! The elevation is one of the greatest features. The course has some REALLY cool features.
-There is a clubhouse. It has a lot of discs a good variety of them. A TV to watch football, and at the tournament, I had a lot of people to talk to. I got to meet Michael Johansen! He's one of the nicest guys you could know! He won the tournament, I'm sure anyone would know that he shot -4 and believe me, this course can get impenetrable before you can say "OUCH." I got 5th in the intermediate division with a +11 score. There were 15 intermediates.
-I love the holes that are really close to the house. #10 is a cool tight 270' shot over a man made creek. Oh, and avoid the house. #11 will make or break you here, it's an uphill dogleg right on the rock green. It's REALLY tough. #12 is out of the woods (nearly steep uphill shot) and goes to the right. #20 is a shorty that goes back to the rock green. It's 245' feet and straight downhill but real easy to pass. #21 is basically a long tee for #12. It plays extreme uphill!
-Place has plenty of props other than hanging baskets. #1 is a dogleg left and there is a fallen trampoline that you can hit. It's facing the basket so that would be a nice shot I'd take all day and many other things I should not give away.
-I love how the tee pads are textured. Very well made by brick. There are some trash cans and benches on every hole. This is a serious hike! My legs hurt!
-25 ft elevation changes are just a regular hole. Hole 5 can be played as a short drop shot. It's 140 feet long and straight downhill but has the defense it needs. If you go just a little bit right, or hit a tree, the disc will just ricochet down the huge hill. I liked this hole because it is a great birdie attempt but can be a bane.
-Hanging practice basket by the house around hole 12/21 and 13's tee.
-The wooden wall in between hole 2/14 and 9/19 is a super cool feature as well.
-The man made creeks on 10 and 11 are awesome.

-Well. As unique as this course is, it can be a little too crazy. I just can't stand #4. Just for one reason, the island green rule. You have to go over the road and if you don't, you re-tee and add a stroke penalty. It's ridiculous. The hole is uphill so my discs literally rolled off it then back down. I got a 6 on this hole. I think the hanging basket on #16 is also a little silly. It's almost 10' above my head. It cost me 2 strokes because I chained out for par. I threw up on the side of the ravine for 5 then made the double bogey but there was a 17 on this hole. It's just silly. If you are wondering how you can get it out, there is a net below the basket, when it goes in, it goes straight down.
-A couple of crossing fairways and several shared baskets. There are 12 baskets and 21 holes here. The features kinda condone this problem because it really didn't bother me. I mean, you play the rock basket twice! I know I didn't particularly care but this is a heads up just in case you don't like it when baskets are shared.
-#13's tee is directly in front of a power tower. This is definitely a feature that is hard to avoid. I think after 11, there should be an easy dropshot hole on the tee pad on the old course and the hole goes straight down to the basket in the water. Sure the fariways will cross but plenty do anyway. #12 could be #13 and we just move on to the actual 14th hole. The actual #13 just isn't a great hole.
-14's approach shot is pinball. A couple removed trees would be great!
-This is just a caution not a con. You'll land on different fairways if you are not careful.

-I enjoyed playing this course. It's not anything like a course at a park. This is one of the most unique disc golf experiences a player can have, maybe the most unique in NC. Not the VERY best but definitely the most unique and one of the best. Holes 8, 19 and 21 are just long tees for 18, 9 and 12 but are just as fun either way. There were only two holes I wasn't very satisfied with but they are still interesting nevertheless. A lot of people love #16, the hanging basket hole. I personally thought it was cool but also wildly crazy. The rock green was a great feature though! It was very crazy!
-My favorite hole was #10. It's a tight hole that goes into the woods by the house with a man made creek in play with the basket 30' past it.
-Send me a PM if this isn't enough for you.

PBrackett's is a great disc golf experience with an outstanding course and clubhouse atmosphere. The course itself is primarily tight wooded fairways with elevation changes on most. The designer, Dave Brackett likes to have fun, and lives disc golf - this course is a testament to his obsession. Hole #1 is the first indicator - the fairway is a sharp dogleg left, and at this dogleg is a trampoline on edge waiting to deflect your disc toward the pin. The other two holes that really stand out are "The El Bastardo Hole" (where the pin is perched upon a giant boulder, where a layup approach is the smart play), and hole 6/16 - a tight narrow fairway that has the basket perched above a gnarly little canyon.

The course is all technical, with tight and short and lacks the length and variety to make it championship caliber of former fame - HOWEVER - this is by all means is no reason to avoid this wonderful course. It will challenge you, your patience, your accuracy, and course management skills. There are a few par fours. If you shank your drive, you will have often struggle to make par.

The Amenities: course is meticulously maintained - no underbrush, fences divide and protect players on opposing fairways, has stairs, bridges and other features abound (including a couple man-made ponds). The tee pads are made of pavers and are quite grippy and nice. Everything is clean.
They have built a clubhouse with a deck, a bar, and a modest selection of discs for sale.
NIGHT GOLF - this is one of the only courses I have played that has full time electric light on all the holes (Tiki Course at Blockhouse is the other). If you love night golf, you will be impressed.
Friendliness - I really felt welcomed by Dave and his friends and family.

This is minor- but a couple tee pads could have been a bit longer.

The stairway going from 10 to 11 is not for the feint of heart. It is steep and if it's slippery (I had to navigate some ice after a snow) and if you are to fall you will tumble about 80' to the bottom.

The only time I played this course was about 2/3 in the dark, so I will want to play again to get the full picture. I do recommend a headlamp or flashlight in the dark - there are some dangerous places (gullies, steep stairs) to step off if you are unaware!

Non-Members must now pay $5, so bring yer cash.

I felt honored that Dave, the owner, went out and played with me. I would have had a bit of trouble finding my way around in the dark for a first-timer!

This course alone would get a 3.5 from me, but the night setup and other amenities bumps it another 0.5.

The best maintained course you'll come across. No thorns to worry about and you'll have to work really hard to lose a disc.

It's just a beautiful place, plain and simple.

Unique touches like the trampoline on #1 make it really fun.

The compact layout feels like too many holes are crammed in too small an area. A couple of holes get repeated. You would think that after playing hole 2 that when it came around again as 14 that I'd be better at it, but no. I'm sad I didn't get to see it before they had to redesign it. I bet it was awesome.

My opinion of #11 (top of the rock) would be different if I had been able to make one lousy shot. That was a low point of my day... but a unique, really cool hole that I can't wait to get back to.

This course could be the Comet of disc golf courses. When you do it wrong, it tells you. I am apparently not as good at this game as I thought I was.

I'm not sure if any course I've played has done as good a job as Brackett's Bluff at producing an atmosphere. The landscape and construction blend seemlessly to create a very distinct, almost Wonderland feel to the course. It's very close knit, with hole separated just enough so that each has a unique fairway. The paths between holes are nicely laid out with fallen branches as guidelines. Each hole has superfluous seating. (At the 18th tee, there is room for at least 25 spectators, who will share a view of three separate tees. Everywhere, there is is stuff. Ladders for climbing down into ravines after a misfire, shields guarding teeboxes, huge rocks on which bakets might be placed, small water hazards filled with decorative fish.

So right, then there's the actual disc golf. It's um, pretty amazing. It's a wooded course, so most lines are pretty tight. The lines are all there if you can hit them though; there isn't a dud fairway in the bunch. Combine that with an astounding amount of elevation for such a small area. You shoot up, you shoot down, and you shoot over ravines(hopefully.) The ravines are actually my favorite part of the course. Like miniature versions of river valleys, they punctuate the course, often adding quite a bit of challenge. But don't worry about losing anything, underbrush is non-existent on this perfectly maintained course.

I love to see a course that essentially, has a mission. Brackett's Bluff knew what it wanted to be, and it was near perfect in achieving that.

There's not a ton of land here. The holes are all packed together pretty tightly, and from most tees, you can see at least two other tees. Fortunately shields protect all would-be danger zones from errant shots. In a way, the closeness of the course actually adds to the flavor, so what would be a con elsewhere isn't as much of an issue here.

In the same way, the lack of variation in the holes isn't a a true con here. Now they do require a multitude of shots here, but there is a similar feel to all of them and there isn't much length. However, introducing a different type of hole would ruin the effect.

The only true con, for me, is the reuse of a few of the holes. for example. 3 and 14 are the same hole. 4 is also 15. This preserves the amazing flow of hole to hole, but if it was ever crowded, I could see this being an issue. And objectively, I want to play 18, not 16 and a few repeats.

My favorite course on a recent swing through Charlotte's best. The only one I'd be eager to take another chance at.

ETA: and i forgot to mention, while I'm not usually concerned with tees, the brick paver tees here are the best I've seen. Plenty of space and shape and the material is both perfect, and unique to an already unique course.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == B+
(This course will definitely add strokes for being way off your line, but overall OK shots do not get punished more than good shots in most places. There are plenty of holes that reward only superb shots with birdies. Only 3 or so holes really had me thinking "how on earth am I going to play this hole?")

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I throw 300' accurately, 360' max. == B+
(7-8 of the holes are too long for me to even hope for a birdie and at least 3 holes are so short a birdie is fully expected. So, with over half the holes not being exhilarating in the scoring department, it is hard to feel great about this aspect of the course.....even though a few of the holes perfectly test and reward my skill.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == A+
(This course has some amazingly unique and fun holes creatively crafted using terrain, trees, huge boulders, a stream, and even a hanging basket. Tons of different throws are needed to navigate the fairways. Most courses have at least 2-3 ho-hum filler holes, but not this one!)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == A
(This is an amazingly beautiful course and amazingly secluded. My only half-grade knock is the power line running through it and a few holes feel a little swampy/dank. The amount of TLC and butt-busting work involved in making this private course amazing is simply mind boggling. Thank you Bracketts and all who have helped!)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == C+
(It is very cool to have several par 4's! In my mind, only 2 add more than just distance: #11 throwing from up high down to a narrow fairway is amazing! Also very cool is #13 along the stream. This hole forces you to land your drive perfectly to be in a position for a good upshot so you have a chance to card a birdie 3.)

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (149 18-hole, 91 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.